10 Surprising Facts About Sri Lanka

sri lanka is a beautiful island country with ancient roots this often overlooked destination is filled with surprises that amaze not only those who visit but even the locals have a lot to be proud of in this episode i'll be sharing 10 surprising and interesting facts about sri lanka hey guys welcome back to ftd facts leroy kenton here and now we get so many requests to feature new countries and i'm really excited to feature sri lanka finally okay so let's begin let's jump into the fact starting at number ten let's look at some of the other names of sri lanka sri lanka actually has a couple of names for titles that it's referred to as the first is the pearl of the indian ocean this is said to be used because of the incredible beauty of the country as well as its biodiversity which by the way is the highest in all of asia and also because one of its main exports is actually precious gemstones now the second name the teardrop of india which is probably more commonly used this is due to the teardrop land shape and it being located off the coast of india but guys did you know that sri lanka was not always known as sri lanka it was previously known as ceylon which is a transliteration of the word sei lao and that was the name of the country under portuguese colonization now the name was later standardized as ceylon when the land became a british colony and the name ceylon well that's used for many of the famous teas as well as other products that are exported from sri lanka ceylon was the official name many years after it gained independence in the year 1948 but the name change happened in 1972 and that takes us to the current name that year the name was changed to sri lanka but hey what does that actually mean anyway sri lanka well let's break it down lanka was taken from the ancient name of the island and it was combined with the term sri meaning resplendent so sri lanka means resplendent island i had to look this up though i didn't know what resplendent means first time seeing it but it actually means shining brilliantly so the shining brilliant island also the name sri lanka is sometimes pronounced as sri lanka and this was just because of a preference of a former prime minister in the pronunciation of the name for fact number seven sri lanka has topped the list as the largest exporter of cinnamon in the entire world and this is according to an international market survey in the year 2019. yes sri lanka is definitely famous for cinnamon as it's a very essential ingredient for many of its foods now cinnamon is said to have originated in sri lanka and was found by the egyptians in 2000 bc but yeah even today at the time of filming this episode sri lanka is still a leading exporter of the world cinnamon and could very well continue to be for years to come next up i'll look at the national sport of sri lanka just like me you probably assume that the national sport of sri lanka is cricket right but you know cricket is still by far the most popular sport in the country but the national sport of sri lanka actually is volleyball surprisingly and this sport was introduced to the country in the year 1916. the sri lanka volleyball federation is the main governing body of volleyball in sri lanka and that was founded in the year 1951. okay guys before we continue in the last five facts that i have for you in this episode just want to take this time to mention our new channel ftd reacts that's a channel where we explore a variety of different topics it's much different than the content that we cover here on ftd facts or on ftd speaks it's a lot more fun a lot more lighthearted but definitely you'll learn a thing or two over on the channel as well as you'll have a good laugh i'll link to it below in the video description section where you can subscribe for new videos posted every single week i highly recommend it if you're looking for something new in your daily life to keep you learning as well as laughing next up number five this is another important fact about sri lanka is that they had the first female prime minister in the world and her name was sir mavo and she was in office for a pretty long time like her first term as prime minister began in july 1960 up until march 1965 then her second time in office was from may 1970 to may 1972 and her position was lost but it continued because ceylon had gained independence from britain and so the country at that time became known as sri lanka as i mentioned earlier and she was prime minister of sri lanka until the year 1977 but she returned for a third time in office yeah this lady really loved her land in the year 1994 she served up until the year 2000 which was also the year that she sadly passed away so let's look at the flag of sri lanka sri lanka's national flag is one of the oldest flags in the entire world like take a look see this golden lion flag was said to have been brought with the first king of sri lanka from india now in the year 1815 when sri lanka became british ceylon the union flag of the brits was introduced into the flag then the golden lying holding a sword was re-added in the year 1948 after independence then the four bowl leaves that you'll notice in the corners they were added to replace spearheads that were in the corners in the year 1972 and with that we now have the flag of sri lanka to this day those four beaulies by the way represent the four values of sri lanka that's loving kindness compassion equanimity and happiness fact number three is pretty interesting as well adam's peak is the most sacred mountain in sri lanka adam's peak is also known as sripada and it has pilgrims from all over the world come there and climb to its peak to stand in the famous footprint that was left there now buddhists they believe that this was a footprint of buddha when he visited sri lanka and tamil hindus believe that is a footprint of lord shiva but among christians and muslims in sri lanka is believed that this footprint was left by adam and this footprint happened when he was sent out of the garden of eden and some believe that sri lanka was actually eden itself next up let's look at buddhist tooth this is a sacred tooth relic of lord buddha and it was brought from india in the 4th century ce and it's actually still preserved in the temple of the tooth in the city of kandy in sri lanka every single summer there's a huge festival known as isala parahira which is the festival of the tooth to honor this tooth and the relic came to be regarded as a symbolic representation of the living buddha and the note i want to end off on takes us to the oldest human planted tree the oldest tree planted by a human being rather than by natural seeding it's located in anuradhapura one of the ancient capitals of sri lanka now it's a sacred fig or bow tree and it is believed to be over 2 300 years old and this tree is called the sri maha buddhia the street was planted about 288 bc and its mother tree is said to be the famous bodhi tree under which lord buddha achieved enlightenment when he was meditating all right guys so that brings us to the end of this episode this was a look at 10 surprising and interesting facts about sri lanka really hope you guys enjoyed this episode let me know all your thoughts and comments down below definitely a very fascinating and mind-blowing place the history is so interesting as well so sending all the love to those of you who may be watching this from sri lanka look forward to seeing each and every one of you also in a future episode so stay tuned [Music] you

Channel: FTD Facts

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Keywords: top 10, ftd facts, facts, interesting facts, fact, amazing facts, sri lanka, facts about sri lanka, sri lanka facts, sri lanka travel, india, south asia, hinduism, 10 Surprising Facts About Sri Lanka, sri lankan, sri lanka history

Id: k2lyS4fbkuY

Length: 8min 38sec (518 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 06 2021